9 Horror Movies That Got Too Real As You Watched

9. The Exorcist Sparks An Epidemic Of Fainting, Vomiting & Panic Attacks

Though some younger horror fans might see William Friedkin's masterful The Exorcist as a bit tame by contemporary standards, there's no denying the thunderous impact the movie had with audiences of its era.

During the week of the film's release in 1973, there were widespread reports of audiences reacting viscerally to it, whether fainting or vomiting, to the extent that some outlets even dubbed the phenomenon an "epidemic."

If there's any doubt at all, news footage literally shows people fainting and being left visibly hysterical by the movie, enough that some cinemas hired paramedics around the clock, plumbers were kept on site to unclog puke-filled bathrooms, and Exorcist-branded barf bags were handed out at some locations.

Psychiatric journal entries were even written about the "neurosis" induced by the film.

Curiously though, the reactions weren't purely due to the intense exorcism sequences - many appeared to respond to the film's extremely realistic depiction of a cerebral angiography being performed upon Regan (Linda Blair).